The PINOT NOIR 2022

What is Hampshire Pinot Noir?

It was never Harry's intention to make a still red wine from our Pinot Noir in 2022, it just sort of happened. Occupied with a new winery to kit out, a new team to work with and a first experience of Burges Field fruit for sparkling wine production, the idea of producing a half decent still red wine was well down his list of goals.

However, our sparkling PINK relies on the production of a small but powerful addition of still red produced from a select few rows of Pinot Noir clone 115. 2022 was no different and the team set out to produce a vibrant, juicy pinot full of red fruit character that has always served the PINK NV well. Vintage conditions were kind, which allowed for 1700 kg of carefully selected bunches to be picked, destemmed and transferred to tank. The whole grapes were then soaked in their own juices for 5 days at 5 degrees C to extract the all-important flavours prior to ferment – this maceration process is, unsurprisingly, referred to by winemakers as a “cold soak”.

The macerated fruit was then inoculated with a Burgundian yeast strain and the relatively warm and short ferment was tended to meticulously three times daily by our Australian intern Mogan, who must have dropped in a little Adelaide sunshine while doing so. The resulting wine was then transferred to 228 litre neutral oak Burgundian barrels along with the more intense wine derived from the pressed grape skins. That was that and the wine was left to sleep along with the rest of the wines until the new year.

Roll on blending in February of 2023 and, with focus primarily geared towards replicating the three core sparkling blends that had been so wonderfully crafted at Hattingley Valley until now, less thought was given to the barrels of pinot beyond their use in the PINK blend. Two of four barrels were required to hit the PINK with a 4% red addition but there remained two perfectly formed barrels without a home. Could it be worthy of bottling as a still? What should Pinot Noir from Hampshire taste like? Whose wine can we compare it with as a benchmark? The questions went round the room and the decision was kicked down the line using the winemaker’s ultimate get out… Let’s taste it again in a couple of months!

Another year passed and the two barrels sat undisturbed in the winery while the 2023 harvest ranged on outside. Not a vintage for making still red from Burges Field... On returning to them at blending in January of 2024, what had developed was unquestionably now ripe for bottling. Raspberry, sweet spice and leathery notes on the nose combined with soft and juicy tannins on the palate. Once again, the all-important ingredient of time had come into play. “Get it in a bottle now” was the call and with a further 6 months of bottle age, it is ripe for enjoyment as a gentle reminder of the summer of 2022.

What is Hampshire Pinot Noir? We still don’t know but will continue to ask the question of Burges Field as and when vintage conditions allow. We hope you enjoy this fascinating journey of discovery with us.